CASA KANE COUNTY 
BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLAN & RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN

BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLAN PHILOSOPHY

Critical services for CASA Kane County (CASA) are those that must be delivered to ensure the survival and ongoing obligations of the organization. The Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is a proactive planning process that ensures critical services are delivered and communicated during a disruption of our program.

CASA Business Continuity Plan includes:

• Plans, measures and arrangements to ensure the continuous delivery of critical services, including recovery of its facility, data and assets.
• Identification of necessary resources to support business continuity, including personnel, information, equipment, financial allocations, infrastructure protection and accommodations.
• To engage personnel at all levels of CASA Kane County in protecting the mission and assets of the organization.

The BCP also serves as an enhancement tool that will increase CASA’s image with employees, volunteers and donors by demonstrating a proactive attitude. Additional benefits include improvement in overall organizational efficiency and identifying the relationship of human, physical and financial assets to critical services.

 

Establish Control

The Executive Director and Executive Committee will oversee the BCP process, will define and delegate senior management roles and responsibilities and ensure that resources are available to keep CASA’s commitments.

The Executive Director will immediately convene a meeting of the Executive Committee in the event of a disruption of the program. The committee will:

• clarify individual roles, and those of participants in the program;
• oversee the creation of a list of appropriate committees, working groups and teams to develop and execute the BCP;
• provide strategic direction and communicate essential messages;
• review the critical services and products that have been identified;
• approve the BCP and arrangements;
• monitor quality assurance activities; and
• resolve conflicting interests and priorities.

 

CASA’s Executive Director is responsible for implementing the BCP, coordinating activities, overseeing the creation of the BCP and reviewing the results of quality assurance activities. To assist in the process, the Executive Director will assign various tasks to the Director of Advocate Supervision, Director of Development, Executive Office Administrator and the Director of Advocate Education.

These steps consist of the preparation of detailed response/recovery plans and arrangements to ensure continuity. These plans and arrangements detail the ways and means to ensure critical services are delivered at a minimum service levels within tolerable down times. Continuity plans should be made for each critical service or product.

RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN

CASA involves the appropriate personnel at all levels of the program to identify risks and create strategies to minimize the impact these risks could have on the organization. The CASA Board of Directors (BOD) and staff are both involved and understand their respective roles in protecting the mission and assets of the organization. The Finance & Legal Committee is the permanent board committee charged with overseeing the activities covered by the Risk Management Plan (RMP). It recommends programs and activities to be carried out by the BOD and CASA management and has the oversight to ensure that the RMP processes and activities are compliant with this Plan.  The committee then reports to the BOD on the activities.  The CASA staff is then responsible for implementing these activities and monitoring the progress.

 

General principles include:

• CASA complies with all local, state, and federal laws and regulations.
• CASA follows the standards, policies and protocols of the National CASA Association.
• Risk management and safety activities include:
• Purchase adequate levels of insurance to protect the organization from undue risk or liability.
• Maintain safe and secure facilities in conjunction with Kane County’s building management process and regulation for the Third Street Courthouse.
• Implement the disaster/business contingency plan designed by the 16^th Judicial Court system.
• Implement and enforce operational policies, procedures, and guidelines that employees clearly understand.
• Thoroughly screen, select and train volunteers, staff and board members using background checks carried out by law enforcement officials.
• Assigning risk management functions to the Finance & Legal Committee who works with the Executive Director and Executive Office Administrator.
• Make certain insurance and bonding coverage is adequate to meet potential liability and unforeseen accidents.
• Work with the Finance & Legal Committee to identify risks to CASA and seek to avoid risk through loss prevention and risk reduction.
• Manage IT services including spam filter, e-mail continuity, and backup and disaster recovery provided by Teqworks, Inc.
• Maintain clear communication channels.

The best way CASA can prepare for a disaster is to work to avoid a disaster. Therefore, potential problems that fall within our responsibility and those which we can control at the Third Street Courthouse will be addressed immediately.  Those concerns will be communicated to the Kane County Building Department and Court Administrator.  CASA will work with those groups to ensure that the potential problems are resolved.

 

Every organization is at risk from potential disasters that include:

• Natural disasters such as tornadoes, floods, blizzards, earthquakes and fire
• Accidents
• Sabotage
• Power and energy disruptions
• Revenue and people
• Communications, transportation, safety and service sector failure
• Environmental disasters such as pollution and hazardous materials spills
• Cyber-attacks and hacker activity.

 

Creating and maintaining our Risk Management Plan will ensure that our organization has the resources and information needed to address the following:

1. FINANCIAL RISK (Audit, Accounting Policies and Procedures, Organizational and Annual Support)

The Board of Directors, Finance & Legal and Investment Committees, Executive Director and Executive Office Administrator are responsible for thoroughly understanding the organization’s financial position and risks.  In addition, the Treasurer and Executive Director are to adopt an operational budget which is reviewed by the Finance & Legal Committee and approved by the Board of Directors.  The Board is responsible for ensuring that an independent audit of the organization’s financial statement(s) is conducted annually by a reputable and independent CPA firm.

The Executive Director, Executive Office Administrator and Finance & Legal Committee are responsible for ensuring that CASA adheres in practice to written financial policies adopted by the BOD, including general financial policies, internal controls procedures and any specific policies such as the Accounting Policies & Procedures.  The Finance & Legal Committee will review these financial policies as needed at least annually and may recommend changes for approval by the BOD.  On an as needed basis, the BOD will review the Bylaws and other organizational filings to ensure that the documents recording the CASA’s corporate formation are up to date and effective.

 

2. COMMUNICATION PLAN (Emergency Situations)

It is that a comprehensive communication plan with contact information and will be used in case of a public relations emergency. This includes maintaining contact with the media, emergency services, vendors, employees, the public and other affected stakeholders

Staff Notification – As soon as possible, the Executive Director will communicate information regarding the emergency to all employees. If the crisis occurs at a time when staff are not in the office and disseminating the information is either critically time-sensitive or regards the safety of the office building, a phone tree will be used to communicate the information to staff. Affected staff’s needs and input on the situation should be taken into consideration. Staff should be reminded that all inquiries (media, members, etc.) should be referred to the Executive Director and that they should refrain from commenting.

Board Notification – The Executive Director will notify the Board Chairman and the Executive Committee who will in turn alert the remaining members of the BOD. Regular updates will be sent as able to ensure consistency of information and promptness of message delivery.  The BOD should be reminded that all inquiries (media, members, etc.) should be referred to the Executive Director and they should refrain from commenting.

Media Releases – If determined necessary by the Executive Director, CASA will distribute a release to the media.  This prepared written statement should guide all interviews by the news media, the public and others.

The release should be posted on the CASA website and distributed to the news media and the State’s Attorney’s office personnel.

Media access to the organizational facilities must be approved and supervised by the Executive Director or his/her designee.  Be sure the area into which the media are invited does not have sensitive information such as reports, personnel information or other documents visually available.

Partner and Key Group Notification – Notify organizations, partners, members, funders, etc.  Use the opportunity to assist with sector-wide messages and leverage the organization’s role as a resource.

Record Keeping – Document all conversations, decisions, details and media questions regarding the emergency situation in order to effectively evaluate communications management.

Media/Message Evaluation – Evaluate appropriateness of messages throughout the situation and revise as appropriate.

Communications Updates – Ensure key constituents (members of the CASA BOD, CAP, and staff, CASA volunteers, judiciary personnel, key donors and social service agencies) are kept up to date. Methods will include:

1. Sending communications to members via the list service or broadcast email.
2. Promptly returning phone calls.
3. Posting a statement on the website and other electronic media, updating it regularly.
4. Updating the organization’s voicemail.

 

 

3. OPERATIONS RISK (Facilities, Technology and Insurance)

Facilities: 

The physical locations determined by the 16^th Judicial Circuit or Kane County will be used to manage operations in the event of a disruption. Having a centralized location where information and resources can be coordinated, managed and documented helps ensure effective and efficient response.

 Recovery and Restoration:

The goal of recovery and restoration operations is to recover the facility or operation and maintain critical service or product delivery.  Recovery and restoration include:

• Re-deploying personnel
• In conjunction with the Kane County Building Department, decide whether to repair the facility, relocate to an alternate site or build a new facility
• Acquiring the additional resources necessary for restoring business operations
• Re-establishing normal operations
• Resuming operations at pre-disruption levels

Concerns and Risks:

• CASA maintains good general housekeeping: areas are kept clean and free of obstructions and fire hazards.  Paper and supplies are stored in designated areas.  Desks are to be kept organized and all confidential documents are to be stored in locked files.
• In conjunction with the Kane County Building Department, the Administrative Assistant will look for and eliminate any obviously overloaded electrical circuits. Employees may not install non-business electrical appliances such as coffeepots, radios, space heaters and fans without the prior approval of the Executive Director. These appliances can cause electrical fires by shorting out themselves or overloading circuits not designed for these appliances.
• We observe physical security procedures in our facility, and encourage increased security when court personnel communicate a situation.
• An evacuation policy is in place to protect the health and safety of its employees and volunteers. Staff is trained as to their roles and responsibilities in the event of an evacuation.  The evacuation route is posted throughout the building. Persons who require special assistance during an evacuation are to be assisted by the nearest staff person.

We observe information security procedures regarding computers in our facility; we encourage increased security when appropriate. The Executive Director and all staff members have individual logins and passwords.  Computers are locked at the end of the workday.  Employees are to lock and secure all confidential material through all measures of communication.

 

Technology – IT Support & Security:

The Executive Director along with the Finance & Legal Committee are responsible for overseeing and approving procedures related to Information Technology solutions, security and contracts.  Services and solutions will be implemented by internal and contracted resources to provide availability, security and connectivity to all computer-related functions required to maintain day to day operations, including maintenance and monitoring of computer equipment, networking connectivity, and security services.  Best practices will be implemented to provide the following solutions to the office Information Technology environment:

• Securely store and share electronic files between CASA Kane County staff members.
• Centrally manage user account access, including but not limited to creation and maintenance of user account credentials, password policies, and network resource authorization.
• Monitor and maintain email delivery, storage, access and backup.
• Manage a backup and disaster recovery strategy, including regular testing of restore process and validation of secure offsite storage.
• Secure remote access for authorized users, including access to office computers and use of smartphones and mobile devices.
• Maintain active antivirus software and licenses, with regular scanning and updates.
• Management of internet connectivity – including but not limited to spam/junk email filtering, internet service, firewalling and networks switching – will be provided by Kane County IT, and is outside the responsibility of CASA Kane County.
• Annual reviews of implemented Information Technology solutions will be conducted by the Executive Director with support by contracted and internal resources responsible for Information Technology services. These reviews will service the purpose of ensuring that Information Technology solutions and services are in line with current and changing needs of the organization.

 

 

Insurance:

The Executive Director and Executive Office Administrator are responsible for researching corporate insurance, including the solicitation of bids as appropriate and renewing the insurance package (including but not limited to directors and officers liability insurance, worker’s compensation, general and comprehensive liability insurance, crime, and professional liability).  On an annual basis, the Executive Director with the Finance & Legal Committee will review the current insurance coverage and report to the BOD.

1. HUMAN RESOURCES RISK (Employees, Board of Directors and CASA/GAL Volunteers)

The BOD will periodically review and consider revisions to CASA’s written personnel policies.  The Executive Director is responsible for ensuring that CASA’s day to day practices comply with these written personnel policies.  All members of the BOD, staff and CASA volunteers must be familiar and sign off on employment and volunteer procedures handbooks.  The Executive Director must ensure that each employee has an annual review.  The termination of any employee will be done by the Executive Director who will consult with the Board Chairman and Finance & Legal Committee if the proposed termination poses an unusual risk or liability to the organization.

CASA also complies with all protocols from the National CASA Association in order to minimize risks to volunteers and risks to the organization as a consequence of actions by its volunteers.  Risk minimizing activities include:  thorough screening (including criminal background checks, CANTS, reference checks as well as thorough interviews); comprehensive training, especially on the policies of the organization that are applicable to volunteers; regular and consistent supervision; maintenance of complete files on volunteers.

 

Click here to download a PDF copy of our Risk Management Plan Summary

 

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